Francis JOYON is now below 40 degrees south and blasting along across the Southern Ocean towards the Cape of Good Hope.

JOYON is now in what he terms 'the Great South' and has also crossed the longitude of Greenwich meridian and will now navigate to the Levant. All through today he has been posting speeds of 24-25 knots and the 14:52 UTC poll gave him a 24-hour distance run of 585.1 nm, his best of the voyage so far.

JOYON is expected to pass the first of the three Great Capes, the Cape of Good Hope sometime during Saturday night/Sunday morning, approximately 15 and a half days since his start. That would put him almost four days ahead of the current record pace of Ellen MACARTHUR (GBR), who reached the Cape of Good Hope in 19 days, 9 hours, 46 minutes. The outright record holder Orange II did it in 14 days, 8 hours and 19 minutes (with a crew of 14).

JOYON is aiming to maximize his current speed as he is currently between the St Helena anticyclone to his north and a hollow depression which is gradually catching him up from the west. Because of his JOYON is aiming to go further South, down to 44 degrees. "The 20 to 22 knots of wind from the northern sector of which I now in enable me to glide smoothly at high speed, 25-26 knots at all times, because the sea is quite smooth and the boat is sailing beautiful," said JOYON. "When the low pressure centre changing to my west catches up with me, the combination of the northerly wind and southern swell will create a confused sea in which it will be less easy to move very quickly "…

At his current speed, JOYON is presenting a threat to the solo 24-hour distance record of Brossard (610.45nm at 25.76 knots), but he's more focussed on the voyage ahead.

"I'm trying to preserve the boat and pass the Cape of Good Hope," he said. "I will then navigate in a rather more conservative way, because I will be in areas where it is never pleasant to have to make repairs.."

Tom Burton (AUS) and Alison Young (GBR) hit the right note in the Laser and Laser Radial at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as they took out the top honours and qualification spots to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final.

It was double Australian gold in the Paralympic classes. Matt Bugg (AUS) came out on top in the 2.4mR whilst London 2012 Paralympic SKUD18 gold medallists Dan Fitzgibbon and Liesl Tesch (AUS) were triumphant in the two person keelboat.

Lithuania's Juozas Bernotas came out on top in the Men's RS:X whilst Russia's Stefania Elfutina was triumphant in the Women's RS:X. Both sailors claim the first Abu Dhabi ISAF Sailing World Cup Final spots whilst Jock Calvert (AUS) and Joanna Sterling (AUS) picked up the Oceanic spots for the Emirati finale.

There was some fast paced action in the 49er and 49erFX Medal Races at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne as Nathan Outteridge & Iain Jensen (AUS) and Maia & Ragna Agerup (NOR) claimed the honours and Abu Dhabi final spots.

A tight group of five young Papua New Guinean (PNG) Laser sailors are stepping up their 2015 Pacific Games competition program using this week's ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne. PNG is one of 33 countries represented at the important Oceanic event, the largest Olympic sailing regatta in the southern hemisphere.

Melbourne, Australia will host the final Rio 2016 Paralympic Games qualification regatta in 2015. With just under one year until the event, the 2015 IFDS Worlds was launched at ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne.

ISAF Sailing World Cup Melbourne kick starts the journey to the 2015 ISAF Sailing World Cup Final in Abu Dhabi, United Arab Emirates with qualification spots and top ranking points available in the Australian city.

Shawn Bennett (USA) won the Long Beach Stop of the 2015 California Dreamin' Series Sunday in this International Sailing Federation (ISAF) Grade 3 match racing regatta hosted by Long Beach Yacht Club and raced on the Long Beach Sailing Foundation's fleet of Catalina 37s.

After the limits of the southern oceans imposed by the combination of the weather systems and the safety barrier of the Antarctic Exclusion Zone, the Atlantic is opening up for the top trio of the Barcelona World Race.